Profile of Henryk Sienkiewicz on Famous Like Me

Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz (pronounce: ['γεnrɨk ɕen'kieviʧ]) (May 5, 1846 - November 15, 1916) was a Polish novelist, one of the outstanding writers of the second half of the 19th century. Sienkiewicz was born to a well-to-do family in Wola Okrzejska, a town in Russian-ruled Poland. A Polish patriot to the core, Sienkiewicz created historical novels that extolled the valiant men and brave deeds of the former Rzeczpospolita. Serializing his novels in newspapers, he became immensely popular and beloved in his time and, over a century later, is still highly valued by readers of prose. In Poland he is best known for his colorful historical novels (The Trilogy) depicting the derring-do of Polish heroes in the 17th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; abroad—for his novel, Quo Vadis, set in the reign of the Roman emperor Nero.

Sienkiewicz had a way with language. In the trilogy, for instance, he had his characters use Polish language as it was spoken in seventeenth century. In Krzyżacy, which relates to the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, he even had his characters speak a variety of medieval Polish which he recreated by utilizing many of the archaic expressions then still common among the highlanders of Podhale.

Quo Vadis has been filmed several times, most notably the 1951 version.

The author of Quo Vadis won the 1905 Nobel Prize in literature "because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer."¹

Works

His most important novels were:

• The Trilogy (Trylogia), comprising:
  • With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1884, relating to the great seventeenth century Cossack revolt know as the Chmielnicki Uprising);
  • The Deluge (Potop, 1886, relating to the Swedish invasion of Poland know as The Deluge);
  • Pan Michael (Pan WoÅ‚odyjowski, 1888, relating to a tale of the wars with the Moslem Ottomans) aka Fire in the Steppe.

• The Teutonic Knights, ISBN 0781804337 (Krzyżacy, 1900, relating to the Battle of Grunwald).
• Quo Vadis (1895).
• In Desert and Wilderness (W pustyni i w puszczy, 1912).
• The Polaniecki Family (Rodzina PoÅ‚anieckich, 1894).
• Without Dogma (Bez dogmatu, 1891).

Note

1. Many commentators erroneusly state that Sienkiewicz received the Nobel Prize for Quo vadis. This is incorrect. He received it "because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer." Sources: NobelPrize.org and "Za co Sienkiewicz dostał Nobla" (a Polish newspaper article).

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